Sharon Turner - Historical Work

Historical Work

He continued the narrative in several subsequent works: History of England During the Middle Ages, a multi-volume publication covering English history from the reign of William the Conqueror to the accession of Henry VIII; History of the Reign of Henry VIII; and History of the Reigns of Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. In 1839, the works were combined into The History of England, a twelve volume set covering all of English history up to 1603.

Against the emergence of the French Consulate, Turner promoted the notion of Anglo-Saxon liberty as opposed to Norman tyranny (strong since the 17th century).

These histories, though somewhat marred by an attempt to emulate the grandiose style of Gibbon, were works of real research, opening up and to a considerable extent developing a new field of inquiry in the area of Anglo-Saxon history. For example, Herodotus reported the Persians called the Scythians “Sakai”, and Sharon Turner identified these very people as the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons. In carefully determining their origins in the Caucasus, Turner wrote: “The migrating Scythians crossed the Araxes, passed out of Asia, and suddenly appeared in Europe in the sixth century B.C… The names Saxon, Scythian and Goth are used interchangeably.”

Turner also authored a Sacred History of the World, a translation of Beowulf and a poem on Richard III. Turner's place as a historian has been debated by later generations of academics.

He was buried in brick vault at West Norwood Cemetery.